1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a packing kit for packing a fluid-containing container to provide a package; a package including a packing kit and a fluid-containing container packed by the packing kit; and a method of packing, with a packing kit, a fluid-containing container to provide a package.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There has been widely used an inkjet recording device including a recording head that ejects droplets of ink and records an image on a recording medium. The inkjet recording device additionally includes an ink tank that stores a large amount of ink. The ink is supplied from the ink tank to the recording head via a tube, so that the ink is introduced into an ink reservoir of the recording head.
The recording head ejects, from an open end (i.e., an ink ejection outlet) of each of a plurality of ink ejection nozzles each communicating with the ink reservoir, a droplet of ink so as to record an image on a recording medium. The recording head has a nozzle-opening surface in which the nozzles open and are arranged in a plurality of arrays in a zigzag or staggered fashion, and which is opposed to the recording medium such as a recording sheet.
When the inkjet recording device records images on a recording sheet, the recording head is reciprocated in a widthwise direction of the recording sheet (i.e., a primary scanning direction). Consequently the tube connected to the recording head is moved together with the head, so that the ink present in the tube is oscillated. If the oscillation (i.e., dynamic pressure) of the ink, produced in the tube, is transmitted to the ink temporarily stored by the recording head, then an ink ejection performance of the head is adversely influenced, which leads to lowering a recording quality of the recording device. To avoid this problem, the recording head has, above the ink reservoir, a space (i.e., an air layer) that absorbs the dynamic pressure of the ink. That is, the recording head is constructed such that the ink supplied from the ink tank is introduced into the ink reservoir via the air layer. According to this arrangement, the ink in the tube and the ink in the ink reservoir are separated from each other by the air layer. Therefore, the dynamic pressure produced in the ink in the tube is absorbed by the air layer, and is not transmitted to the ink in the ink reservoir.
The recording head is an article of consumption and is commercially available. When the recording head is shipped from a factory, a maintenance liquid for maintaining the head is charged into the ink reservoir (i.e., an inner space) of the head, for the purpose of enabling, when the head is initially attached to the inkjet recording device, an ink to be smoothly introduced into the ink reservoir, without generating air bubbles in the ink. The maintenance liquid has the same properties as those of the ink but does not contain a dye or a pigment of the ink. In addition, when the recording head is shipped from the factory, the head is packed with a packing kit, for the purposes of avoiding contamination and absorbing shock. The packing kit includes a rubber-based nozzle protector that is attached to the nozzle-opening surface of the head, for the purpose of fluid-tightly sealing the respective ink ejection outlets of the nozzles; and a flexible sheet in the form of an inflatable bag that accommodates the head. Thus, the recording head is packed by the packing kit, such that the ink ejection outlets are fluid-tightly sealed by the nozzle protector, i.e., the inner space of the head is fluid-tightly closed, and such that the head is fluid-tightly accommodated by the bag. An example of the inkjet recording device is disclosed by, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-1046 or its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,390A.